Morning Shake: Our Monthly Media Bill Up 13.6%

I got up on a clear Saturday morning and paid the cable bill. So I started to think about what was never good.

We pay a lot of money for local media.

It’s just the two of us at home right now. We didn’t add services and didn’t buy many things like pay-per-view movies (and zero when it comes to movie tickets).

But our monthly media, communications and entertainment bills increased 13.6% year-on-year to $944 this year from $831 in May 2021, including amortization of some quarterly, semi-annual and annual payments. That’s about $11,328 a year now, not counting some lost magazine purchases at $9,972 a year ago.

It was a little shocking to me. No movies. No subscription news. Definitely not Broadway shows. But the embodied value of our humble media life has increased dramatically from a year ago, thanks in part to the expiration of Spectrum’s “welcome aboard” deal. And it really stands out because Verizon is making predetermined price hikes and Los Angeles times It tries to increase our tax by half every year (I call for a cancellation every year).

That’s right, everything else is growing. We need to get May inflation statistics from the government on Friday; The April figure was 8.3% compared to the previous year. Gasoline prices in Los Angeles are $8 per gallon and a 2-pound rack of lamb sells for $102 at Gelson’s, so it’s hard to expect good news on that front.

Of course, at a cost, you decide to eat it (but not the lamb, thanks). Our home insurance increased by 33 percent compared to the previous year; But it also has everything to do with the cost of construction and the repair and replacement of the property. Traffic insurance increased by 12 percent. Painfully, Owen Wilson’s Tesla wheels were confiscated somewhere nearby; someone has to pay. Health insurance will certainly continue to rise. We are not improving.

But our income, of course, does not increase, no more than a point or two per year. The 5.9 percent increase in social security was greater than Kovid’s breakdown of investments. To pay a small pension New York Times But static, yet solid. We are not ashamed. What is half board?

Yet the cost of media, communication and entertainment. Something to give. Satellite radio, I’m staying. Is anyone still reading here? New York Times. but you can lose Los Angeles times Actually this year? This will save you some money. Or remove Verizon’s not-so-free line that supports the iPad they once gave me “free”. Or even if it’s all about the Internet, phone lines, alarms and some kind of inconvenience, but finally unplug the cable.

Of course, we will not add anything new. Sorry Pak, no newspaper. There is no premium movie purchase. There are no new streaming services. We have a series of media belts ahead of us and I don’t think we are alone.